Gaylor/Kaylor

Example: Taylor fighting for her right to speak out politically against Marsha Blackburn.

Preparing for Clarity:

“My team isn’t very happy with me right now. All I’ve talked about for the past couple months is the election in Tennessee. It’s not that I want to step into this, but it’s just, I can’t not at this point. Like..something is different in my life and unchangeably different since the sexual assault trial last year. No man in my organization or family will ever understand what that was like.”

“For 12 years, we’ve never gotten into politics or religion”

“First of all, this isn’t your dad’s politics and these aren’t your dad’s republicans”

“Imagine if we came to you and said “hey, we’ve got this idea…” that could half the number of people that come to your next tour.”

“The other thing, just from a security standpoint—Taylor Swift comes out against Trump”

“I don’t care if they write that!”

“I’m saying right now, that this is something that I know is right and that you guys…I need to be on the right side of history and if he doesn’t win, then at least I tried.”

“I’m terrified. I’m the guy who went out and bought armored cars”.

“It really is a big deal to me”

“It’s really basic human rights and it’s right and wrong at this point. I really can’t see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian Values’.”

“So, I always need to bring up what to expect. First, the President could come after you”

Permanence:

“Dad, I need you to forgive me for doing it because I’m doing it.”

“Yeah fuck that, I don’t care. If I get bad press for saying don’t put a homophobic, racist in office? Then I get bad press for that. I really don’t care.”

I (as I’ve shared with a few people—they know who they are) think that folklore is about Swiftgron AND Kaylor (if you follow those master posts, it will make more sense) because “folklore” is about a love triangle and Taylor said evermore was the sister album (aka part 2). So she uses folklore to tell the first part of the story (the past) and segues into evermore to give us the rest.

Gonna be blunt here: if you don’t care to hear/read any mention about Swiftgron, this probably isn’t your post. Likewise, if you think songs can only be about Scott/Scooter, this isn’t the post for you either. Not trying to be rude or take shots at anyone else’s opinion—which we are all entitled to and I respect, but I’m just saying not to waste your time reading this long ass post if that’s the case (lol).

Again, this post is my personal opinion. I am not presenting any of this as a fact. Any mention of a Kaylor/Swiftgron relationship is alleged. (Before anyone tries to come for me. Lol)

Also—I don’t really concern myself with when she wrote a song. Because she probably writes songs all the time. I think it’s when she actually puts them on albums that kinda matters more. Especially if it fits the concept she’s going for or story she’s telling on her albums.

Finally—we all know by now that what Taylor has said in interviews and such about her songs/music is different than what she says in her songs. She’s a writer. She can spin different narratives at the same time. Lol

Anyway, there was quite a discussion about “Hoax” the other day. To understand “Hoax,” you have to look at what a hoax is—a lie to make something appear as one thing when it’s something different:

“When the words of a sister come back in whispers that prove she was not in fact what she seemed, not a twin from your dreams—she’s a crook who was caught”

There is a difference between a betrayal and a hoax.

I think the song is about being convinced to give someone yet another chance; when you do, you ultimately realize that what made you consider and grant that second chance was a lie. (“How You Get The Girl”—in the first part of the song, notice how she says “that’s how you get the girl,” then “that’s how you lost the girl,” and ends on “that’s how you got the girl.”)

“You know I left a part of me in New York.”

While Taylor was happy in (and with) New York (aka Karlie), there was probably a part of her still hoping that things could and would work out with Dianna. So if Dianna said the right words to make her believe she’d changed, that things would be different this time, etc., she considered it and chose her.

**for the record, I like Dianna. I don’t think she’s a terrible person or anything like that. Same for Karlie. You can like people and dislike or disagree with their actions at the same time.**

It seems like Taylor (at the time) gave up something good because of a lie. She fell for the hoax. Things weren’t different, nor had they changed. She left a part of her in New York because the heart wants what the heart wants, but logic will sometimes say otherwise. Unfortunately, sometimes people go with their hearts over logic and get hurt. Keep your helmet, keep your life. You have to protect yourself to keep from getting hurt.

“You knew the hero died, so what’s the movie for?”

Basically, what’s the point? If you tell someone about an entire movie before they get a chance to see it, you’ve ruined it for them; so, in the context of the song, Taylor feels there’s no point in trying to salvage her new situation if it has already been ruined.

“You knew you won, so what’s the point in keeping score?”

Why are you still trying to do things to prove your point? There’s nothing left to prove because you won the game. When you’re keeping score, someone is always on the losing end. When you keep score, you always do things to one-up your opponent (or partner) to have the final say or to “maintain the lead.” She left “New York” (which could mean her heart was in NY though she was physically somewhere else) and returned to Dianna, which was Dianna’s goal—to get her back or maybe keep her from moving on/being happy.

When a relationship gets to the point where people start keeping score, it’s not a relationship; it’s a competition where the biggest “prize” is resentment for each other.

“You knew the password, so I let you in the door”

Basically, the line means that she (Taylor) trusted her enough to open up to her. When you give someone your password or a key to your house, there’s a level of trust in you feel comfortable enough to do so.

When you know the password, you can access what’s inside. To enter a password, you push buttons. When you enter the password correctly, whatever you try to unlock opens up. Dianna knew how to get to her. She always knew how to push her buttons. If you know how to push someone’s buttons, you know what makes them tick and how to use that to your advantage to get what you want—whether it’s a reaction or a result. For example:

Why’d you have to lock me out when I let you in?

You asked me for a place to sleep, locked me out, and threw a feast

“You knew it still hurt underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart, but what you did was just as dark”

The scars are past wounds. Scars are reminders of having been hurt before. For example, you can fall off a bike when you’re five years old and 20 years later still have the scar, which has faded—is still there. It’s still visible. However, she isn’t talking about physical pain; she’s talking about the memory of being hurt in the same way before by someone else that she trusted.

The thing that “was just as dark” wasn’t anything different. It was the same thing from before happening again. So what Dianna did was also as dark as what “they” did to her before to cause the scars. In both instances, someone she trusted took something away from her.

It happened with Emily being fired (though Emily has said she left to attend law school, Pop Up Video said otherwise. Lol). Remember the video tribute? Colbie Caillat confirmed (in so many words) that “Breathe” was about Emily when she said, “She was writing about something she was going through with a band member at the time, and she was pouring her heart out about it.”?

In “Hoax”, she literally says: “you know I left a part of me back in New York.” “You knew the hero died” What hurts underneath her scars, is the memories of what caused the scars. She remembers them “all too well”.

This was way longer than it needed to be, but I tend to write kinda sorta detailed. It’s a habit. Lol

There’s other metaphors in this song and in others on both albums. Might take a minute (or multiple listens) to catch them though.

Per usual—my opinion.

So to paraphrase the great Tobe Nwigwe:

If you don’t like what I say or post, pretty please for your sake and mine…unfollowwwww meeeeeee.

If I make you feel some type of way…unfollow meeeeeee.

Also: I’m not saying an affair can’t be between two women (allegedly of course), but in the song, she uses the pronoun “Him” so I’m speaking in a general context.

Now that we have that out of the way:

“Illicit Affairs” (in my personal opinion) is a song that details the events and effects of a secret relationship through both perspectives of the parties involved in the affair. As listeners, we have been placed right in the middle of the experience itself.

The first verse is from the POV of the man. It’s going over the steps of his routine for when he sees the other woman and after:

Make sure no one sees you leave---hood over your head, eyes down

Tell your friends you’re going for a run--you’ll be flushed when you return

Take the road less traveled by; tell yourself you can always stop

What started in beautiful rooms ends with meetings in parking lots

 When you deliberately choose to take a longer way home (or take the road less traveled), you’re attempting to avoid being seen or recognized. Of course, he can always stop—as in turn around and go back home or end the affair, but he chooses not to do either.

The attraction of ‘secrecy’ is the adrenaline rush you get from knowing something no one else knows. It’s an addictive drug keeping a secret and coming too close to exposing that secret. Once you start, you get hooked, and it’s hard to break an addiction cold turkey. What began as something great isn’t as great now because feelings have gotten involved. What started as something physical has now become an emotional affair.

Leave the perfume on the shelf that you picked out just for him

So you leave no trace behind; like you don’t even exist

Take the words for what they are—a dwindling, mercurial high

A drug that only worked the first few hundred times

The second verse is from the other woman’s point of view. The most exciting thing in this verse is the perfume. While leaving the bottle on the shelf may seem normal to the average person (it’s just a bottle on a shelf), it means something to the woman.

The perfume bottle symbolizes the circumstances of the affair and how they affect her (being the “other woman”). It makes her feel as if she doesn’t exist as the man always leaves her to go back to his partner every single time. The perfume scent is all she has to remind of the man when he’s there and when he’s not. Things were fine in the beginning, and now it’s not. The words are just words, and the situation is getting old/starting to take a toll on her.

They show their truth one single time

But they lie, and they lie, and they lie

A million little times

Another double metaphor. The first instance can be almost getting caught and lying to deny an outsider’s suspicions.

On the other hand, both the man and woman show their truth—that they want to be together, but at the same time, they both continue to lie. For example, he probably says he loves her and wants to leave his wife. He promises he will tell his wife about her and leave her. But he doesn’t. He continues to make excuses while repeating the same lies.

The other woman probably lies to herself by forcing herself to believe him and telling herself that she’s okay with everything when she isn’t.

And you wanna scream

Don’t call me kid. Don’t call me baby

Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me.

You showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else.

Look at this idiotic fool that you made me.

You taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone else.

Notice how the lyric says she *wants* to do these things, but she doesn’t because she’s committed to this person even though they aren’t emotionally available to her (“and you know damn well for you I would ruin myself a million times”). This person has destroyed her in a sense. They give her what she doesn’t feel she can get from anyone else (“you showed me colors you know I can’t see with anyone else”). They understand her. They “get” her (“you taught me a secret language I can’t speak with anyone else”).

So what have we, the listeners, learned about illicit affairs?

First, they’re complicated and very technical-- every little thing matters when keeping the secret a secret.

Second, they’re risky (i.e., showing your truth once, almost getting caught, or getting caught).

Third, they kill you slowly on the inside, but what are you going to do—tell everyone?

The main thing is that you can’t afford to be out in the open. So all you can have is the weekends or the bottle of perfume on the shelf.

You hide in plain sight.

So what we see is Taylor choosing to get inside that box herself and she’s looking all around which resembles her exploring the music industry when she’s still young and fresh. We see that magical dust thing or halo around the musical instrument she’s holding which resembles how her music is her truth or the only thing she can truly express herself through. Then she starts singing, then the camera shows two lovers talking and other people also laughing and talking which resembles Taylor writing love songs or songs that everyone relates to but she’s all alone in her box looking around, then suddenly her lover appears and she starts singing to him. She starts feeling him from inside the glass, then decides to go out to meet him when she releases she is stuck.

I think this scene as a whole represents how her record label’s strategy was that they promised her when she gains fame and recognition she could later tell her truth when she has a strong fanbase because she was still young and starting her career (the part where she is singing and the camera moves to the two lovers and other people meaning she is gaining that fame) but when the time came they denied her the thing they promised her (the scene where she can’t find a door to her box anymore and is stuck).

By the way we can notice that she’s singing but people are not looking at her which almost feels like no one sees her as a human, people are entertained by a voice but they don’t even care who is the actual person behind it.

Later when she can’t get out of the box, she finds that hidden door that has the same magical dust or halo to it, and the she sings “But I come back stronger than a 90s trend” and smirks, which resembles that she, despite her label’s effort, found a hidden door which is her music, to tell her truth openly but without getting bashed or cancelled for it. And with that line she says ‘you can’t shut me down, i’ll always find a way to tell my story”.

Wow 😯 this is really good, anon! Thank you for sharing this with us.

Scooter as we all know, is in the music industry and music industry people (generally) all talk. He, like others, had probably heard the rumblings about Taylor’s contract negotiations. Knowing how he could try use that to his advantage—as he has wanted to work with her for years, he got in Scott Borchetta’s ear.

Scott, who himself was trying to bully Taylor into taking a shitty deal to “own” her for the rest of her career by making her earn her masters for each of her old albums for each new album she released, was probably pissed because Taylor—having common sense for starters, scoffed at the deal and peaced tf out.

So what does Scott do? Sells her masters to Scooter out of spite. Because Taylor told us that “any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape her lips, it was when she was either crying or trying not to.

Scooter, who even though he manages Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande—2 of the biggest pop stars…who had to get an investment group to help him buy Taylor’s work (only to sell them for the same amount)? Especially when Scott could’ve gotten more money for them by idk selling them to the creator herself?

Scooter who just so happens to be friends with Jerk….who just so happens to work (lol, petty) with Karlie…who at the time was managed by Scooter? What exactly does Jerk have interests in the music industry for? If they wanted to invest in that company….why wasn’t Scooter able to leverage his direct connection to Justin/Ariana? Wouldn’t that alone have been enough to draw mutual interest?

Also, remember when Scott tweeted that music video of Karlie and tagged Taylor? So you know he knows what’s up. Hurt people hurt people.

So again, Karlie didn’t betray Taylor. She just got caught in the crossfire. She and Taylor (at least in my eyes) are just fine.